Colorado 2018-19 Colorado Weather and Stoke

[Ken_R]

I've had some great days at Vail closing day. Even lower at Beaver Creek too.

First, you need enough snow, and we've got that. Then you just need a day when the temp and sun are just right, not too warm, not too cold. On the occasional cold day, the surface conditions may actually be better lower at Vail then up at Breck where it could be icy.

It's a lot like A-basin at the last couple weeks of May, and we enjoy that, yes? It depends on the weather, but Vail could be great this April with all the snow.

Above say 11k there are gobs of snow its awesome.

 

[tball]

How is Vail & Breckenridge in mid April? My kids have a week off Apr 15-19. Is it worth a trip from California?

Vail extended to Apr 21, and Breckenridge extended to May27!

So it sounds like the consensus is that Breckenridge is still good in mid-April but Vail gets sloppy? That's too bad- I found some pretty good deals on lodging at Vail. Is Vail still skiable from mid-mountain and up or I shouldn't even bother?

What I'd do is stay in Breck or Frisco, even if it costs a little more, planning on most days being at Breck. Depending on the weather, there might be a cooler day or two you'll find better conditions at Vail. Ask here what folks think as to where to go if there is any doubt on a given day, as it can sometimes be a tough call.

As per @nay's jab at coral reef at Copper - that's long gone as the south facing Copper Bowl closes the first week of April. The remaining terrain predominantly faces north, unlike most other ski areas.

Being both high and north facing gives Copper the best chance of full-on winter conditions well into April, like this day on the 18th of April a couple of years ago:

 

[VickieH]

Yesterday at Copper:
Skied until early afternoon
Fished late afternoon ... fishing for turns in catch-and-release snow

On my last run, had one near-hit by a new skier who was way over-terrained. Her companions were then taking her into the moguls on Copperfield. <smh>

Three turns later, a snowboarder, following a missile on skis, feared he was going to hit me and threw on the brakes. He stopped about 10 feet above me on the hill. He was badly shaken. Fortunately, I was not since my whole season is about recovering from the mental impact of my injury two years ago.

Welcome to Spring Break?

 

[Ken_R]

Yesterday at Copper:
Skied until early afternoon
Fished late afternoon ... fishing for turns in catch-and-release snow

On my last run, had one near-hit by a new skier who was way over-terrained. Her companions were then taking her into the moguls on Copperfield. <smh>

Three turns later, a snowboarder, following a missile on skis, feared he was going to hit me and threw on the brakes. He stopped about 10 feet above me on the hill. He was badly shaken. Fortunately, I was not since my whole season is about recovering from the mental impact of my injury two years ago.

Welcome to Spring Break?

 

[nay]

I’m not jabbing at Copper specifically - just that days exactly like today are too cold high up to soften with even partial sun.

Total refreeze today and going nowhere. Not sure what’s up with that exposure, but hopefully it makes it look as bad as it is.



Pali is firm chalky(ish). Skiable(ish).

 

[Ken_R]

Here’s a day of high altitude refereeze. Not sure what’s up with that exposure, but hopefully it makes it look as bad as it is.

View attachment 69113

Pali is firm chalky(ish). Skiable(ish).

View attachment 69112

View attachment 69114

Oh helllll No


The cure to that is to go to a much lower elevation

 

[UGASkiDawg]

Oh helllll No


The cure to that is to go to a much lower elevation

The cure to that is Outer Range brewery...

 

[nay]

Oh helllll No


The cure to that is to go to a much lower elevation

Pali was really pretty decent - you go to the steepest north facing stuff you can on these days. Didn’t even bother with Beavers.

Of course, there’s always Sundance.

 

[djetok]

I skied with my daughter on the 4 th day. I can honestly say I'm beat and ready for a nap. In 4 days I am guessing I got upwards of 50k vertical feet. Still have tomorrow, it might be a solo ski day for me though . Everyone is sitting in the house ready to go to slogars st 5.

 

[givethepigeye]

The Evil Empire (Vail) was a tad...firm today. Warm/Sunny yesterday and froze - clouds and cooler most of the day. Of course the Sun is out now. Pray for snow or sun.

 

[bamaman]

Are you interested in skiing at Copper for one of those days?

Absolutely. Going to do at least 1 day there. Can get on Liftopia for < $90.

 

[dbostedo]

Only those refreeze overcast days where even Andy’s Icecore is no fun

Huh... I don't think they have a run called Andy's Icecore.... There's a run called Andy's Enco... Ohhhh.... I see what you did there.

 

[nay]

The Evil Empire (Vail) was a tad...firm today. Warm/Sunny yesterday and froze - clouds and cooler most of the day. Of course the Sun is out now. Pray for snow or sun.

Snow showers tonight into Monday. Question is how much it will take to integrate and get rid of the reef.

Of course, it’s late March, we haven’t had a single sticky day, and this is maybe the first overcast refreeze day, compounded by a cold SW wind ahead of a mild stormy cycle.

But as much as I love scrapey groomers in flat light with spring break minnows, I’m sitting this out until it’s sunny or more than a couple inches of refresh.

And A-Basin raised their beer prices

 

[Freaq]

Today started as another corduroy day. My partner bagged it after a couple hours when the population on the groomers grew gross. Searching for a mission, I decided to see how many lifts I could ride. Turns out it was all of 'em that were spinning.

Had some fun seven minute relationships. One young lady was halfway through her first day on skis and was super stoked to maybe 'do a blue'. One gentleman was on day one of his season after suffering a heart attack 53 weeks ago. He couldn't get the grin off his face.

Stuck mostly to the groom but did have fun with some really loud bumps. They were super lonely too.
https://www.relive.cc/view/2230663588

Last year I set my record for days. Today I tied it with a week to go = )

 

[givethepigeye]

Snow showers tonight into Monday. Question is how much it will take to integrate and get rid of the reef.

Of course, it’s late March, we haven’t had a single sticky day, and this is maybe the first overcast refreeze day, compounded by a cold SW wind ahead of a mild stormy cycle.

But as much as I love scrapey groomers in flat light with spring break minnows, I’m sitting this out until it’s sunny or more than a couple inches of refresh.

And A-Basin raised their beer prices

View attachment 69160

That pretty much sums up the day. Groomers, flat light and minnows. No real complaining though, was @ Snowbird this time last week and it was glorious. Better than sitting on conference calls.

 

[UGASkiDawg]

That pretty much sums up the day. Groomers, flat light and minnows. No real complaining though, was @ Snowbird this time last week and it was glorious. Better than sitting on conference calls.

You are so wrong...sitting on conference calls is Pinnacle of existence. It generally means you get paid well and you don't have to do any actual work.....1st world problems.

 

[nay]

You are so wrong...sitting on conference calls is Pinnacle of existence. It generally means you get paid well and you don't have to do any actual work.....1st world problems.

We have evolved. The new pinnacle is tech companies who use third party collaboration apps like Slack in lieu of endless calls, so collaboration can be fully enabled on a personal phone without handing over admin control. Ski runs are an appropriate time gap between responses for most stuff.

Pro Tip: AT&T has a cell tower repeater at A-Basin and full coverage on the mountain.

And then of course the phone makes a hotspot for the laptop. View from the office when you need a bigger screen and keyboard.

 

[QueueCT]

Drop in helmet speakers like CHIPS are great for conference calls on the lift if you only have to speak occasionally. Easy to mute while on a run.

 

[nay]

Ok, back to the weather. A few inches of snow and then spring bluebird. These temps are for Bakerville, so around 10,500’ elevation. So probably hit 50° at 9K midweek.

 

[nay]

Here’s a cool write up on the blizzard last week (the bombogenesis). For those who want to keep geeking out on Colorado weather, there is a lot of explanation of how topography (orographics) rules for CO weather. Preliminarily, it was the strongest low pressure ever recorded in Colorado.

Also as a footnote, Wolf Creek apparently got 52” from this storm. That’s an incredible total for a non-maritime location.

https://www.weather.gov/pub/Bombogenesis_20190313